EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming, 10G-P5-3897-KL, 10GB GDDR6X, iCX3 Technology, ARGB LED, Metal Backplate, LHR (Renewed)

The EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming is a premium, renewed graphics card designed to deliver exceptional performance for demanding gamers and creators. This model, identified as 10G-P5-3897-KL, is built on NVIDIA's Ampere architecture and comes with 10GB of high-speed GDDR6X memory. As a certified renewed product, it has been professionally inspected, tested, and cleaned to meet high-quality standards, offering a more accessible entry point into high-end PC gaming and content creation workflows.

Key features highlighted in the title include EVGA's advanced iCX3 cooling technology, which utilizes multiple sensors and fans for optimized thermal management across the GPU, memory, and VRM. The card also boasts a customizable ARGB LED lighting system, allowing users to personalize their rig's aesthetics, and a sturdy metal backplate that provides structural rigidity and aids in heat dissipation. It's important to note this is an LHR (Lite Hash Rate) model, prioritizing its availability for gamers.

This renewed graphics card is engineered for ultra settings in 1440p and 4K gaming, smooth VR experiences, and accelerated rendering in creative applications. It supports real-time ray tracing, NVIDIA DLSS for AI-powered performance boosts, and is ideal for users building or upgrading a powerful gaming PC who seek flagship-tier performance without the flagship price of a brand-new unit.

Flagship Performance at a Renewed Price

The primary advantage of this EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra is its ability to deliver near-top-tier gaming performance. The 10GB GDDR6X memory on a wide 320-bit bus provides the necessary bandwidth for 4K gaming with high detail settings, making it a bestseller choice for enthusiasts seeking exceptional value. The renewed status significantly lowers the cost barrier, allowing more gamers to experience smooth frame rates in the latest AAA titles with ray tracing and DLSS enabled.

Superior Cooling and Build Quality

EVGA's FTW3 Ultra series is renowned for its overbuilt design. The iCX3 cooling system is a standout feature, employing nine thermal sensors and three axial fans with optimized fan curves. This ensures that the GPU, memory modules, and power delivery components all stay cool under heavy loads, which translates to sustained boost clocks and quieter operation compared to reference designs. The robust metal backplate not only looks premium but also prevents PCB flex and assists in managing temperatures.

Enhanced User Experience and Customization

Beyond raw power, this card offers a premium user experience. The ARGB LED lighting can be synchronized with other components using EVGA's Precision X1 software, which also provides detailed hardware monitoring, overclocking controls, and firmware updates. The LHR designation, while limiting for cryptocurrency mining, is a benefit for gamers as it was intended to improve card availability for its primary audience. As a renewed product from a reputable brand like EVGA, buyers also gain a level of trust and potential warranty coverage often not available with generic used cards.

While offering tremendous value, a renewed EVGA RTX 3080 comes with inherent considerations. The most significant is the lack of a brand-new product's full, long-term warranty. Renewed products typically come with a limited warranty (e.g., 90 days to 1 year), which is shorter than the standard 3-year warranty on new EVGA cards. There is also a possibility, however small, of minor cosmetic imperfections from prior use, though certified renewed units are cleaned and inspected to a high standard.

Potential buyers should also assess their power supply and case compatibility. This high-performance card has a substantial power draw, often requiring a 750W or higher quality PSU and multiple PCIe power connectors. Its large FTW3 cooler means it is a physically massive card, so verifying clearances in your PC case, especially for length and width, is crucial before purchase. Furthermore, the 10GB of VRAM, while fast, is becoming a limiting factor in some modern games at maximum 4K settings with all texture details enabled, where competing cards may offer 12GB or more.

Finally, the LHR feature, while a pro for gamers, means this card has deliberately reduced efficiency for certain parallel computing tasks like Ethereum mining. For users interested in mixed-use workloads beyond gaming, this is a performance limitation to acknowledge. It is purely optimized for graphics performance.

The EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming (Renewed) represents an outstanding opportunity for performance-focused gamers. It combines the proven, high-end capabilities of the Ampere-based RTX 3080 GPU with EVGA's premium cooling, build quality, and software ecosystem at a significantly reduced price point. For users building a powerful 1440p or 4K gaming rig, it delivers an experience very close to a new card for less.

This card is highly recommended for gamers who prioritize raw frame rate performance and cooling efficiency and are comfortable with the shorter warranty period of a renewed product. It is less ideal for users who require absolute peace of mind with a long warranty, those with small-form-factor cases, or creators for whom the 10GB VRAM buffer might be a constraint in professional 4K+ video or 3D rendering workloads. For the right buyer, it's a savvy purchase that delivers flagship-tier gaming performance.